Are Museums in Malawi Dead?

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:01]Are museums in Malawi dead?

[00:00:05]>> [music] [music] >> Hi.

[00:00:13]My name is Pentani. I'm a visual artist and a curator. [music] Currently studying a master's in tourism and hospitality management at Mzuzu University.

[00:00:24]>> [music] >> To answer why museums in Malawi are outdated, we have [music] to travel back in time before settler colonialists arrived in what was then Nyasaland.

[00:00:34]>> [music] >> The people occupied this land were no strangers to sustainability, conservation, interpretation, collection, and exhibition [music] of their tangible and intangible heritage.

[00:00:45]Evidence of these practices can be witnessed till [music] this day with the likes of Kuluvu in the south, Kulankhulu in the central, and Vimbuza in the north.

[00:00:54]These [music] centuries-old dynamic and living practices focused on the social change of the people.

[00:01:00]The arrival of British settler colonialists in the 18th [music] century and the establishment of museums as we know them today was happening at the same time. These phenomena were characterized by [music] Western imperialism and colonialism, which legitimized colonial power.

[00:01:17]>> [music] >> The Nyasaland Society, now known as the Malawi Society, formed in 1946, was the agent of the British Empire and also the catalyst for the establishment of the first museum in Malawi. It is worth mentioning that the members of this organization were predominantly British white men.

[00:01:36]The first home of the Museum of Malawi was Mandala House in Blantyre. [music] This building was previously the headquarters and the living quarters for high-ranking [music] employees of the African Lakes Company, the first European corporation that operated in this region of Malawi, then Rhodesia, and they traded [music] in goods like tea and ivory.

[00:02:00]In 1962, the Beit [music] Trust granted 15,000 pounds to the Nyasaland Society to establish a purpose-built museum, which became the Chichiri Museum in Blantyre, [music] opened on June 29th, 1966 by then Prime Minister Kamuzu [music] Banda. The Museum of Malawi, which was conceived as a colonial project, was no exception to other African museums which were established at the time. They were byproducts [music] of colonialism and European imperialism.

[00:02:29]>> [music] >> The collection, interpretation, and exhibition practices of these museums were driven by the curiosity of white settlers towards the material [music] culture of the people they came to rule.

[00:02:40]The systematic collection policies set up by the colonial government was an intentional move to understand, [music] control, and govern the subjects that they ruled. After gaining independence in 1964, the now Republic of Malawi would have to consider how this newly independent [music] nation would deal with the colonial practices of these museums. The practices [music] and philosophies of colonial museums were in alignment with the advancement of imperialism. As such, >> [music] >> their knowledge production supported the colonial agenda while subjugating and excluding indigenous [music] knowledge systems of colonized peoples.

[00:03:18]There's an evident identity crisis that plagues most [music] post-colonial societies, and as such, museums play an important role in identifying who people are as individuals, as well as who they are as a collective.

[00:03:33]>> [music] >> Within a post-colonial museum setting, you'd expect the old politics of ethnographic [music] representation to change. This is because ethnographic objects were taken from local communities without a proper understanding [music] of their uses. Therefore, taking these objects out of their [music] context and into spaces that weren't built with these local communities in mind.

[00:03:57]What [music] is common with these ethnographic displays is objects are displayed without assigning [music] dates to when these objects were produced, nor artists or artisans who are responsible for their production.

[00:04:09]The only thing that they show is the ethnic group that they belong to, [music] which is a form of erasure.

[00:04:16]After independence in 1964, even though [music] substantial changes occurred to the Museum of Malawi, it still remained colonial. Within Kamuzu Banda's [music] 30-year autocratic rule, more museums were established. However, the modes of representation >> [music] >> and exhibition making haven't changed much even after transition into multi-party democracy in 1994. [music] Very little changes have been made to repair these issues. The story of Malawi, told through the collections and displays of the museums, ended [music] in the mid-20th century, which fails to reflect post-colonial Malawi.

[00:04:52]>> [music] >> My research, titled Recontextualizing Malawian Museums: >> [music] >> Origins, Practices, and Sustainability, aims to serve as inquiry into more creative curatorial approaches that reframe Malawian exhibition making [music] and examine the role of indigenous knowledge and technology to repair and recontextualize [music] tangible and intangible heritage in our museums.

[00:05:21]If you're interested in this work, [music] I need your help to make this study a reality and contribute to Malawian museums that are dynamic, inclusive, and alive. [music] Follow my link in my bio to access my research proposal or send me a [music] DM and I'll share it with you. Thank you so much.